#74 Marina Berlusconi

Daughter of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's billionaire prime minister, Berlusconi, 40, holds several posts in her father's media empire. She is chairman of Italy's largest magazine publisher, Mondadori, and deputy chairman of the family's investment arm, Fininvest, the media holding company her father founded and built. Though scandal has stalked the Berlusconis (her father was acquitted in 2004 of bribing a judge), the family fortune remains intact. It is said that Marina stands to inherit a fortune; her father is worth $12 billion.

Published sources include the women's official biographies, Factiva, International Who's Who of 2005, Marquis Who's Who, World Almanac of Famous People, Palgrave Who's Who 2005, the Congressional Yellow Book, the Judicial Yellow Book, Europa World Year Book, Hoover's Online, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, World Economic Forum, the World Book Encyclopedia. Rankings generated by combining various financial figures with other media and biography metrics; global media mentions from Factiva.